Fine Writer

I am surprised that a fine writer like William Tuohy would propagandize the cliche that the German language is of "nightmarish complexity" and therefore hinders efforts to promote its use. Question: Why do millions of children in Germany, Austria and Switzerland speak it perfectly and with ease beginning at age 3? G. BORDING MATHIEU Laguna Beach

I suppose we should be grateful that blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is finally getting his due for "Roman Holiday" (" 'Roman Holiday' Was No Lark," by Steven Linan, June 26), but that's no reason to refer to the script's credited co-writer as Ian McKellen Hunter. For the record, that fine writer's name was Ian McLellan Hunter. A.L. HERN Los Angeles

I suppose we should be grateful that blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is finally getting his due for "Roman Holiday" (" 'Roman Holiday' Was No Lark," by Steven Linan, June 26), but that's no reason to refer to the script's credited co-writer as Ian McKellen Hunter. For the record, that fine writer's name was Ian McLellan Hunter. A.L. HERN Los Angeles

I'm not saying the blacklist didn't have an emotional effect on us; it did. Hugo was a fine writer and a devoted craftsman, and struggling to survive as a writer in a country where the language was not his own--at a time in history when he couldn't even write under his own name--added a terrible frustration to the problems of supporting six children. And yes, he was a pretty awesome paterfamilias; after all, he worked largely at home, and our house in Mexico was small. But he was also a wonderful paterfamilias: He instituted weekly baseball games, and picnics, and trips to Acapulco, and stories at bedtime every Saturday night, and a hundred other kinds of adventures.

Re: Elizabeth Becker's review of Susan Fromberg Schaeffer's "Buffalo Afternoon" (Book Review, June 11), Where were Richard Eder, Carolyn See or Charles Champlin when we needed them? What does Becker, an expert on the Vietnam War, know about the art of fiction writing? Has she ever read Schaeffer's previous works, such as "Anya," "Love," or "Madness of a Seduced Woman"? Has she ever written a novel? Becker seemed overly concerned about the author's inaccuracies regarding facts of the war and the author's inability to give the right answers to the problems the war created.

In Craig Modderno's Outtake about "The Hard Way" (an upcoming Universal Studios film starring Michael J. Fox, to be directed by John Badham), I've received perhaps more than my share of credit for the screenplay. In fact, the original draft of the script was written by Lem Dobbs for producer Bill Sackheim. I was hired to rewrite the script, and Badham and Fox were offered my version of the project, hence Dobbs, a fine writer, was inadvertently forgotten in the blizzard of drafts and deal memos.

I'm not saying the blacklist didn't have an emotional effect on us; it did. Hugo was a fine writer and a devoted craftsman, and struggling to survive as a writer in a country where the language was not his own--at a time in history when he couldn't even write under his own name--added a terrible frustration to the problems of supporting six children. And yes, he was a pretty awesome paterfamilias; after all, he worked largely at home, and our house in Mexico was small. But he was also a wonderful paterfamilias: He instituted weekly baseball games, and picnics, and trips to Acapulco, and stories at bedtime every Saturday night, and a hundred other kinds of adventures.

Martha Mark writes of the desert in the spirit of Joseph Wood Krutch, which is the highest compliment I can bestow upon her ("Counting the Majestic Desert Sheep," Other Views, Aug. 7). I cannot help but also comment upon the curious juxtaposition of her article and that of the adjacent piece written about Hugh Hefner ("Hefner Agrees to Tell His Life Story" by Elizabeth Mehren). Mehren is a fine writer and what I am about to say is not to disparage her considerable talents. My problem is with the mentality of printing what appears to be an advertisement for Hefner's book.

"Re "San Jose Almost Arrives," Aug. 14: I lived in San Jose for 20 years. I raised two children there and loved every day in that wonderful town. Nice people. Nice weather. While a fine writer, Herb Caen was an elitist. I believe he spent a total of one day in San Jose. Steven V. Behm Burbank

Re: Elizabeth Becker's review of Susan Fromberg Schaeffer's "Buffalo Afternoon" (Book Review, June 11), Where were Richard Eder, Carolyn See or Charles Champlin when we needed them? What does Becker, an expert on the Vietnam War, know about the art of fiction writing? Has she ever read Schaeffer's previous works, such as "Anya," "Love," or "Madness of a Seduced Woman"? Has she ever written a novel? Becker seemed overly concerned about the author's inaccuracies regarding facts of the war and the author's inability to give the right answers to the problems the war created.

In Craig Modderno's Outtake about "The Hard Way" (an upcoming Universal Studios film starring Michael J. Fox, to be directed by John Badham), I've received perhaps more than my share of credit for the screenplay. In fact, the original draft of the script was written by Lem Dobbs for producer Bill Sackheim. I was hired to rewrite the script, and Badham and Fox were offered my version of the project, hence Dobbs, a fine writer, was inadvertently forgotten in the blizzard of drafts and deal memos.

I am surprised that a fine writer like William Tuohy would propagandize the cliche that the German language is of "nightmarish complexity" and therefore hinders efforts to promote its use. Question: Why do millions of children in Germany, Austria and Switzerland speak it perfectly and with ease beginning at age 3? G. BORDING MATHIEU Laguna Beach

Martha Mark writes of the desert in the spirit of Joseph Wood Krutch, which is the highest compliment I can bestow upon her ("Counting the Majestic Desert Sheep," Other Views, Aug. 7). I cannot help but also comment upon the curious juxtaposition of her article and that of the adjacent piece written about Hugh Hefner ("Hefner Agrees to Tell His Life Story" by Elizabeth Mehren). Mehren is a fine writer and what I am about to say is not to disparage her considerable talents. My problem is with the mentality of printing what appears to be an advertisement for Hefner's book.

In Kirk Douglas' tribute to the fine writer Edward Abbey (letter, March 23), he refers to the film "Lonely Are the Brave," which was based on Abbey's book "Brave Cowboy." Even though Mr. Douglas was the star and his company produced the film, he makes one significant error in listing the cast. William Shatner was not in the film. Shatner is, of course, the commander of the starship Enterprise in "Star Trek." William Schallert was in the film. He is a fine character actor, often seen in films and television--and as a spokesperson for KCET.

BIOGRAFI: A Traveler's Tale by Lloyd Jones (Harcourt Brace/Harvest: $10.95 paper; 256 pp.) "Why would anyone visit Albania?" For 40-odd years the scraggly mountain "republic" was sealed off from the rest of the world by Enver Hoxha, the deified dictator whose smile was said to enrich the soil, whose very glance ripened fruit. TV and foreign publications were proscribed.